As web services and search engines become prevalent, networks are recently used not merely as communication means but also as a huge database that accumulates diverse information. The information accumulated in networks includes, for example, text information, still images, audio, and movies, and the amount of the accumulated information is increasing year after year.
Also, in a service like M2M (Machine-to-Machine) or IOT (Internet of Things), apparatuses connected to a network mutually distribute information in real time. In a network providing a service like M2M or IOT, all communication peers exchange information bidirectionally and flatly. Thus, the amount of network traffic is increasing.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating one example of an information reference system. An information reference system P100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a system in which six information reference apparatuses P1 to P 6 reference information from one information generation apparatus P9. The information reference apparatuses P1 to P6 identify the information generation apparatus P9 by using a DNS (domain name server), for example, individually establish a connection to the information generation apparatus P9, and communicate with an application interface by using a protocol. Thus, six connections are established in the information reference system P100 illustrated in in FIG. 1. In this case, traffic congestion occurs more likely at a position that is closer to the information generation apparatus P9.
FIG. 2 illustrates one example of an information reference system. As with the information reference system P100 illustrated in FIG. 1, an information reference system P200 in FIG. 2 is a system in which the six information reference apparatuses P1 to P 6 reference information from the one information generation apparatus P9.
The information reference system P200 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes proxy servers P11 to P13 provided at positions in the vicinity of each of the information reference apparatuses. For example, as a proxy processing for the information reference apparatus P1, the proxy server P11 acquires referenced information from the information generation apparatus P9 and retains the referenced information in a cache. Afterwards, if a request for referencing the same referenced information is received from another information reference apparatus P2, the proxy server P11 responds to the information reference apparatus P2. Also, when the other proxy servers P12 and P13 receive, from an information reference apparatus belonging thereto, a request for information from the information generation apparatus P9, the proxy servers P12 and P13 can acquire the referenced information not from the information generation apparatus P9 but from the proxy server P11.
Thus, with the proxy provided in the vicinity of each information reference apparatus, traffic can be distributed and the possibility of congestion can be reduced.